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Robots rock charts with '07 record

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It was a transformative week for the home entertainment business. Paramount Home Entertainment's DVD release of DreamWorks' "Transformers" rocketed to the top of the national DVD sales and rental charts for the week ending Oct. 21, easily trouncing any and all competitors.

The summer theatrical blockbuster, which grossed $316.5 million in U.S. theaters, topped the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart by a long shot in its first week in stores, with sales pegged by the studio at 8.3 million units -- a 2007 record.

"Transformers" also found itself in high rental demand its first week out, debuting at No. 1 on Home Media Magazine's rental chart with estimated rental revenue of nearly $10 million.

Genius Products' "Planet Terror," the second half of the Weinstein Co.'s "Grindhouse" double feature, debuted at No. 2 on the sales chart and No. 5 on the rental chart, with estimated earnings of $5.8 million.

Sony's "Surf's Up," the previous week's top seller and renter, slipped to No. 3 on both charts, generating an additional $5.9 million in rental revenue to bring its two-week total to $14 million, or nearly 24% of its boxoffice gross of $58.9 million.

On the rental chart, Fox's "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" held steady at No. 2 in its third week, generating an additional $6 million in revenue to bring its total take after 19 days to $22.7 million.

On the high-definition disc front, "Transformers" was the No. 1 HD DVD seller for the week, while on the Blu-ray Disc charts the first two "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies returned to the two top spots five months after their initial release. "Transformers" is only available in HD DVD.